


Foundations

by swag_gravedigger



Category: Naruto
Genre: Attempt at Humor, Bullying, Coming of Age, Foster Care, Gen, Group Home, I'm not trying to make light of the foster care system in anyway, Implied/Referenced Drug Use, Mental Health Issues, POV Uchiha Sasuke, Some Plot, Underage Smoking, for now, may shake it up later, modern era ish
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-06
Updated: 2021-02-09
Packaged: 2021-03-09 03:48:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 17,812
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27428182
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/swag_gravedigger/pseuds/swag_gravedigger
Summary: The look in his eye was something that Sasuke could not completely understand. Sasuke could understand pity, sadness, indifference all through a look in the eye, but he could not quite catch what was framed in Naruto’s eyes. It was part hunger, part anxiety, part loneliness, but it wasn’t that at all. Sasuke found himself having to force to meet his gaze, his first instinct to look away. Sasuke realized that his earlier notions of not needing any advanced knowledge on this kid was wrong, very very wrong. Though any prior information would not have prepared him for Uzumaki Naruto, it may have helped a little.
Relationships: Uchiha Sasuke & Uzumaki Naruto
Comments: 1
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

The building was unsuspecting. It just looked like a big brick house with a slightly pointed roof, completely generic, maybe a little old. Sasuke sank down further into the back seat of the social worker's silver sedan. He eyed the duffel bag slouched next to him, disturbed that his whole life, all of his possessions had been reduced to what was in that bag. He caught the social worker peeking at him through the rear view mirror as she parked the car, Sasuke dully stared back. He could feel her pity reflected in the mirror. He couldn't stand it, couldn't stand the thought of being pitiful.

He reminded himself that the social worker only knew the bare bones of his story, enough to get him taken away, of the parents that died in a fire when he was 7, of the time he and Itachi spent with his granny and her passing. She did not  _ know _ Sasuke. Sasuke vividly remembers his granny’s death, cold and lifeless in her floral nightgown on her bedroom floor, a major heart attack in the middle of the night. By that time, Itachi had turned 19, and used his savings and the money their parents left him to rent an apartment in the city. Itachi worked and Sasuke went to school, until Itachi had met some people. Itachi had quit his job, but still spent long hours away from the apartment. It was something that Itachi told him he didn’t have to worry about, but Sasuke wasn’t stupid. He knew his brother was involved with drugs. It wasn’t that hard to figure it out. It honestly had insulted him that Itachi hadn’t tried to hide it better. That's what got Sasuke here, because his brother was an idiot.

The social worker opened the back door of the sedan and made a gesture for Sasuke to exit the vehicle. He ambled out, dragging his duffel bag behind him. The social worker held out her hand, offered to carry it for him, but he shook his head. He was sick of this lady's pity. 

"Do you have any questions before we go and get you settled in? I know this is going to be an adjustment for you, but I hope you will like it here. It's a small place, only 11 kids in this main building, not even at full capacity. The older kids live in those cottages back there." She pointed beyond the main building to a couple of unassuming looking buildings. 

"So I'll be in here with a bunch of little kids?" Sasuke was not thrilled by the idea. 

"They only take kids aged 10 and up, and I believe that most of the kids 16 and up are in the cottages, so everyone here should be just a couple years younger or older than you." Sasuke shook his head. He was 13 and felt silly for even being in this situation. He could take care of himself. He practically had been for the past year or so. 

"Are you ready?" The social worker asked. She didn't wait for Sasuke to object and guided him to the front doors of the building. "Konoha Home for Children" it said on the glass doors in chipped white paint.

The social worker did most of the talking for him during intake. He stayed almost entirely silent, eyes focused on the generic blue carpet and his fraying shoelaces. The intake lady did try to engage him in conversation. She had cropped black hair and tan skin and dark eyes. She told him that her name was Shizune and that she was assistant to the lady that ran the house. Tsunade was her name, and she was a very nice lady that was glad to have Sasuke here with them. Sasuke wondered why this woman did not come to greet him herself. Shizune also asked whether he wanted anything to drink or a snack. He shook his head slightly, not willing to look up from the floor. He felt that if he did, he might cry. He hadn't felt this overwhelmed in a long time, not when he was first taken away from Itachi, not even when he gathered the details of the extent of what Itachi did, how it had landed them in this situation, Itachi in jail and Sasuke, well Sasuke was here. 

After intake, the social worker said her goodbyes to Sasuke, and he was led into a little room with a table and some chairs. Shizune placed a water bottle down on the table, despite his previous declination. 

"I know the intake part was probably very hard for you," she said softly, "so we're going to let you process everything in here for a while before we introduce you to more new people. Just sit and chill for a while, and in a bit, one of the staff will come and get you. His name is Kakashi and he's going to be a great resource to help you understand how things work around here. If you need anything, I will be in front, just right through that door." She smiled at him and it felt genuine. He didn't know how to feel about that. 

Sasuke sat in the room for what seemed like forever. Eventually he couldn't fight off his tears anymore. His tears were hot and salty, and he felt embarrassed to be showing so much emotion in such an unfamiliar place. At least he was alone. Eventually, his eyes dried, and he took a deep breath, uncapping the water bottle and chugging practically the whole thing in one go. Crying made him thirsty. Soon after, he felt somewhat stable, and he heard the door creak open to reveal a man with very messy gray hair. He had a hunched posture and dark circles under his eyes. The lower half of his face was covered with a mask. Sasuke found this very odd. "Hi, I'm Hatake Kakashi. It's nice to meet you. I mean I guess it's not nice considering the circumstances, but I hope despite that we can be friends and get to know each other. You're Sasuke Uchiha, correct?" Sasuke stared at the man, slightly bewildered. He had mumbled through most of his little introduction, the middle part sounding especially rehearsed. Sasuke nodded his head.

"Well, I'm one of the staff here, and I'm going to show you around along with one of the residents here. She should be here in a minute or so. She's usually a stickler for punctuality. While we wait, why don't you tell me a little about yourself?" Sasuke just stared blankly at him with his dark eyes, unable to fully process this friendly, but awkward man in front of him. Kakashi seemed to realize that Sasuke didn't feel like talking much. Kakashi scratched the back of his head and gave a small smile. "Given I've been in this situation before myself, you would think I would be better at this."

Before Sasuke could really comprehend what Kakashi just said, the door flew open and a girl that looked around Sasuke's age burst through. She seemed a bit out of breath. Her bright green eyes flicked over Sasuke for a moment before looking up at Kakashi. "I'm sorry Kakashi Sensei for being late, but Shino had put another spider on Hinata's head while she was reading, and she had freaked out so bad, I had to calm her down, and I was just about to punch Shino in the stomach for being such a  _ douche,  _ but then Kurenai Sensei showed up and told me that I shouldn't be getting involved in things like that and I should get a staff member and she also told me that punching people in the stomach is wrong. I told her that I  _ know  _ that, but Shino had started it by putting the spider in Hinata's hair, and I was just protecting my friend. Of course, she still made me apologize to Shino, and of course, I didn't want to, so that took a few minutes. That's why I'm late." The girl took a few breaths and then looked back to Sasuke. "Is this the new kid?" 

"Yes, this is Sasuke. He's going to be living with us starting today. Sasuke, this is Sakura, she's going to help me show you around." Sakura took a few steps over to where Sasuke was still sitting.

She stuck out her hand, clearly inviting Sasuke to shake. He tentatively moved his hand towards hers. She caught his and held it in a firm grip, shaking her arm up and down with confidence. "Haruno Sakura at your service! It's nice to meet you, Sasuke. You seem pretty sane to me so far, so you've got a leg up on about half the people here. You're also kind of cute, you know?" 

Sasuke was jarred by that. He quickly pulled his hand away. His hand ached slightly from her strong grip. "Ugh...nice to meet you. But I'm not looking for a girlfriend." Sasuke stood up and tried not to look directly at Sakura's humiliated face. Maybe he had been too cruel. "So are you guys going to show me around?" He looked at Kakashi with raised eyebrows. 

"Well, let's get started."

The layout of the place was not too difficult to understand. The house was two stories. On the second floor where the dormitories. On the left side were the boy's dormitory, which consisted of four bedrooms and one communal bathroom with two toilet stalls and two showers stalls. On the opposite side of the second floor were the girl’s rooms. It was pretty much identical to the boy’s side. The halls were thankfully empty. Sakura explained to him that it was “outside time.” Since it was summer and the weather was nice, most days after breakfast, everyone was instructed to go outside and find something to do until lunch. Sakura promised him that she would introduce him to everyone once he got familiar with the place. 

Sasuke's room was at the end of the hall. Kakashi explained to him that right now, he had the room to himself. The facility was not at full capacity, but he could potentially get a roommate if they took in another boy. His room consisted of two twin beds, one made, the other one stripped bare, two desks and chairs for homework and two dressers for clothing. It was pretty standard. Sasuke saw that his duffel bag had already been placed on the made bed. That was where he would sleep then. 

After getting familiar with his room, Kakashi and Sakura showed him around the other areas of the house. Downstairs, there was a rec room with two TVs, one hooked up to a Playstation. There seemed to be a good selection of games and movies. The room also had board games and toys and bean bag chairs. The kitchen and dining room were next to the rec room.

Breakfast was served promptly at 7am every morning with noon being lunchtime and 6pm being dinner. During the summer months, they usually got a mid morning snack. During the school year, they had breakfast and lunch at the school, a snack when they got home from school and dinner was still at 6. Sasuke did not like the fact that he couldn’t just go into the kitchen whenever he wanted and get food. Sasuke had been responsible for his own meals when it was him and Itachi. That was going to take some time to adjust to. Kakashi and Sakura also showed him the library and the nurse's office. The library was where kids could go to work on homework and have quiet time. The nurse’s office was Tsunade’s. Her door was shut and Sakura said that when it was shut, she didn’t like to be disturbed. Sasuke secretly put his head to the door to hear if there was any sound coming from within. He couldn't hear anything. He somewhat doubted that the lady was even in there, either that, or she was asleep. 

Sasuke felt overwhelmed by the time the tour was finished. There were so many questions that he had that were left unanswered, questions that he was too afraid to even ask. When would he see his brother? Was his brother going to stay in jail? Was he going to be here until he turned 18? What if he didn't like it here? So far he didn't think he would like it here. He wasn't sure about Kakashi, who seemed alright but strange. Sakura had annoyed him earlier by calling him cute, and she seemed a bit like a know-it-all.

"If you just want to hang out here until lunch time and get situated that’s fine," Kakashi said, while standing awkwardly in the doorway of Sasuke's room. "I'll have Sakura come and collect you for lunch. It will be a good time for you to get to know everyone. I'll be just down the hall if you need me." He shut the door, leaving Sasuke alone in a bare room with just his duffel bag and his thoughts. His thoughts drifted back to the day before he found out that Itachi had been arrested.

His brother had gone out early that morning, while Sasuke was still in his pajama pants and eating his Cinnamon Toast Crunch in front of the television. His brother had given him simple instructions, just the usual, “Keep your phone close and charged in case I call and don’t open the door for anyone.” Sasuke had just nodded drowsily and kept his eyes glued to the TV. The next he had heard from his brother, it had been 9pm. Sasuke had been laying sideways on his bed, loudly listening to top 40 radio while squirting gobs of ketchup on saltines and eating them. His phone pinged next to his head. He rolled over, tossing the ketchup bottle to the side before looking at his message from his brother. It just said, “Will not be home tonight. Lock everything up. See you later.” Sasuke had not thought anything about the text. He got those often enough from his brother. 

He worked odd hours at this job of his, and Sasuke was stuck in the apartment most days, except to go to school. Itachi would leave money sometimes for him to walk to the supermarket a couple of blocks down when Sasuke would complain that there wasn’t any food in the house. He never went to his school friend’s houses, and Itachi had specifically forbidden them from coming over to the apartment. Sasuke’s life was very insular, consisting of shitty public access TV, an old gameboy that used to be Itachi’s, youtube and mobile games on his phone when he could siphon the wifi from one of his neighbors, and the radio. But that all changed when he got a phone call the next morning from his brother, and his brother  _ never  _ called, always texted.

Suddenly, Sasuke could hear the sounds of people in the boy's dormitory hallway, almost right outside his door. He heard laughter and mutterings and scoffs and exclamations. For a moment, Sasuke thought about opening the door to join them, introducing himself, not waiting for Sakura to come and collect him, but by the time he had built up the nerve to stand up from the bed and walk towards the door, the voices had faded. It was probably for the best anyway. Moments later he received a polite knock on his door. That would be Sakura. 

"Lunchtime, Sasuke!" She said sing-songy as he opened the door to the room. She had pulled her straight hair back with a handkerchief and her large forehead glistened slightly with sweat. She had just come in with the others. "Let's go!" She said enthusiastically, grabbing his hand and dragging him towards the dining room for a few seconds before realizing what she was doing. He pulled his hand away and for a second, she looked back at him with a confused look before giving him a small smile and turning back towards the dining hall. "Everyone is very nice here, so don't be afraid of anyone. We are all kind of like brothers and sisters in a way." She said before opening the door to the dining room. 

Kids were already sitting on the long table that took up most of the room. There had seemed to be a lot of chatter and laughter going on behind the door, but once Sakura and him walked in, the chatter mostly stopped. All eyes were on Sasuke. He was the new kid after all. There was a smaller table in the corner that Kakashi was sitting at, hunched over with a face in a book. There were a couple of other adults at the table as well that he had not met yet. "Let's grab some food and have a seat, Sasuke." Sakura said. She pointed over to the low window that connected the kitchen to the dining room. There sat a couple of sandwiches on a platter as well as bananas and apples, cheese crackers and juice cartons. Sakura grabbed a plate and put two sandwiches on her plate. "Good ole PB and J! We are so lucky! a couple months ago there was a girl that stayed with us for a little bit that had a nut allergy. We couldn't even have the stuff in the building!" Sasuke thought about what Sakura said while putting his own sandwich and an apple onto his plate. A girl stayed with them for a few months and went away? So this might not be permanent. Sasuke felt like he could sigh and puke at the same time. Why was everything so uncertain? 

He numbly followed Sakura to the far end of the table where there were still spots left on the benches. Murmurs had begun to come from the other kids at the table, but for the most part it was silent. Sakura sat next to a girl with long, blonde hair tied up in a high ponytail. The girl eyed him strange, lidded and sneaky. Sakura gestured for him to sit across from her, next to a large boy, with chubby cheeks and a pudgy nose. He looked harmless enough. "Who's this, forehead? You're not doing a very good job on the welcome committee with the introductions and all that." The girl with the blonde ponytail was clearly talking to Sakura, but her eyes did not leave Sasuke's face. He had decided. This girl was scary. 

"I was just getting ready to introduce him, Pig. No need to be impatient." Sakura gave Ponytail a sharp side eye, while rubbing her palm over her forehead as if she was trying to wipe something off. The forehead comment got to her. Sakura poked her head around Ponytail, looking down the middle of the table. "Everyone," she said loudly, and everyone at the table looked to her expectantly. "This is Sasuke. He's new, so be nice to him. We've all been new before, so we know how it feels." Sakura then turned her head back to Sasuke across the table and smiled, a look of sadness touched her eyes and Sasuke instantly recognized it. The look quickly faded. Everyone at the table looked at him expectantly. Sasuke did not like the weight of their gazes on him and felt compelled to say something, despite feeling immensely uncomfortable. "Hi." He muttered, lazily moving his hand in a sort of wave, making zero eye contact whatsoever. The dining room was silent for a second, as if they were waiting to see if he would say anything else. That was not going to happen.

"Now I get to introduce you to everyone!" Sakura said excitedly, after catching the hint that Sasuke was not going to elaborate on his introduction. Sasuke looked around him and counted 9 kids. Hopefully he would remember all of their names. Sakura gestured to Ponytail, "This is Ino, my disgusting roommate, and next to you is Choji." Ino scowled at Sakura most evilly, while Choji briefly looked up from his food and smiled at Sasuke before going back to his 3rd? PB and J. Next to Ino was Shikamaru, a kid who looked so tired, it wouldn't have surprised Sasuke if he fell asleep at the table. Shikamaru lazily looked up from his plate and nonchalantly told Sasuke, "Welcome to hell." A staff member with a funny scar on his face stood up from the other table and shouted "language!" Shikamaru turned around and murmured, "Sorry, Iruka Sensei. Won't happen again." The staff member named Iruka rolled his eyes and sat back down. During this whole exchange, Sasuke had noticed Chouji swipe Shikamaru's half eaten sandwich and finish it off in two bites.

Sakura continued down the line, introducing everyone to Sasuke. There was Neji, who roomed with Shikamaru. He had brown hair that ran past his shoulders and distinctive pale eyes. Sitting next to him was Hinata. Sakura explained that Neji and Hinata were somehow both cousins and half-siblings, which left Sasuke wondering how that was possible. Hinata shared the same pale eyes. Both of them seemed pretty quiet and reserved. Sitting across from Hinata was Tenten, a smiley girl, who looked like she could kick Sasuke's ass. Then there was Lee, when upon being introduced to Sasuke belted out a "Salutations!" He seemed a bit socially offbeat. At the opposite end of the table were Shino and Kiba. Shino seemed extremely quiet, barely even making eye contact with Sasuke when introduced. Kiba was the complete opposite, loudly introducing himself. After the introductions were over, Sasuke began to eat his lunch. He felt like if he didn't dig in soon, Choji would do more than just eye his food. 

After lunch, the group was instructed to find something to do in the rec room, the library, or their bedrooms. "Team Guy" was instructed to stay behind to do afternoon chores with a staff member named Guy. Team Guy consisted of Neji, Tenten, and Lee, with Guy as their "Team Leader." Guy seemed like a strange fellow, wearing garish workout clothing and speaking in a booming voice. It was clear that Lee idolized him a bit. As Sasuke left the dining room he heard Guy's voice fill the room, "Alright team, let's clean up the dining room and do the dishes!" Lee echoed him with an enthusiastic, "Go team!" 

Out of the dining room, Sasuke wasn't sure what he should do with his free time that afternoon. He felt like the right thing to do would be to show his face in the rec room and get to know the people that he was going to be living with for who knows how long, but he hadn't felt so drained in a long time. He wanted to go into his new room and get underneath the covers of his bed, isolate himself. While he was debating this, Sakura snuck up behind him and tapped on his shoulder making him jump. He turned around to face, trying not to glare at her too much. 

“I hope the introductions weren’t too overwhelming for you. You seem like the quiet, solemn type. If there is anything I can do to make this easier for you, please let me know. I like looking after people. At least, that’s what Miss Tsunade tells me. If there is anything I can do, Sasuke, I don’t know your situation, but I know how hard it is to come here.  _ I know _ .” Her voice caught for a second. Sasuke caught himself flinching at her change in tone. “Anyway,” She continued after a moment and a deep sigh, “I didn’t mean to make you uncomfortable when I called you cute earlier. Sometimes I have a hard time with boundaries, but I’m working on it. I hope you can forgive me, and we can be friends. We are going to be on Team Kakashi together after all!” 

“Team Kakashi?” Sasuke questioned, thinking back to Lee, Neji, and Tenten wiping down the dining room table, with Guy, as the team leader. “Who else is on the team?” 

“Well right now it’s just us two and Kakashi. Usually, the teams consist of three, plus the team captain, but we’re a person short right now.” 

“Who were you on a team with before?” He was curious to know about the people who had lived here and left. What happened to them? Did they go back with family? Were they adopted?

“Oh just a weirdo and an idiot. The idiot went to go live with a foster family a couple of months back, and the weirdo just left a couple of weeks ago to live with his older sister.” So one went with their family. Maybe he had a chance to go back to Itachi after all of the stuff with the law was cleared up. Sakura looked at him, drawing him back from his thoughts of Itachi. “So we’re cool, right?” She asked, a hopeful look in her bright green eyes.

“Yeah, we’re cool.” Sasuke felt the ends of his mouth turn into a little bit of a smile. Sakura may be very annoying, but she was also kind. She seemed like she had good intentions, and he was glad that he didn’t have to worry about her trying to make him her boyfriend. 

The next few days consisted of Sasuke getting into a routine. He tried to spend most of his time alone in his room when possible. He was still overwhelmed by everyone and everything. He felt like he got tired really easily and often would just go to his room and lay on his bed, looking up at the ceiling or at the blank cream walls. When he was forced to leave his room, for mealtimes and outside time, he would try to stick close to Sakura. She was easy to be around. She talked a lot about a lot of things that Sasuke found foolish, but most of the time all he had to do was hum in agreement during the brief pauses when she would stop talking. They would spend a lot of time together as Team Kakashi, doing cleanup and chores. Sasuke learned that Kakashi was not as enthusiastic a team leader as Guy. He would often stand or sit to the side while Sakura and Sasuke did all the work, his head buried in whatever book he was reading at the time. Sakura would often complain about this to Kakashi, but all he would do is sigh and shrug his shoulders, coming up with some lame, sarcastic excuse as to why he couldn’t help out with the dishes. 

When Sakura was preoccupied or spending time with Ino, for two people who claimed to despise each other, they did seem to hang out a lot, Sasuke found that he gravitated most to Shikamaru and the two Hyugas, Neji and Hinata. Shikamaru and Neji were the two oldest of the group and would often sneak away from everyone else into a copse of dense trees at the very back of the property. Shikamaru had invited Sasuke to their little hideout a couple of days into his stay. “Watching you sit alone and moping is such a drag,” Shikamaru had told him as they walked towards the wooded area. Sasuke looked back to where Kakashi stood, underneath a shady tree, solely focused on the book he was reading. 

“You don’t think he will notice us missing?” Sasuke asked.

“Don’t let that dude fool you. He sees more than he lets on and knows exactly where we’re going and what we’re doing. He just doesn’t care.” Shikamaru pulled out his pack of cigarettes as they approached the spot. He lit one and threw his pack and lime green lighter at Sasuke, who fumbled slightly, but still caught both. He looked over at Neji, who pulled his own pack and lighter from the pocket of his hoodie. “You don’t want his stuff. He likes menthols.” Shikamaru advised. Sasuke had never smoked a menthol, but he knew his brother didn’t like them, so he made a face and hoped that it would translate to him having his own personal preference. Sasuke had only smoked a few times, back behind the sports sheds at his school with a few friends. Sometimes his brother would leave his packs lying around the apartment, and Sasuke would steal one and light it late at night when he knew he wouldn’t be disturbed, his head poked out the window in an attempt to keep the smell indoors to a minimum. He lit the cigarette with Shikamaru’s lime green lighter and inhaled. A wave of relief washed over him when he didn’t cough on the exhale. After that, the smoke breaks became a regular thing. 

His relationship with Hinata was completely different. Sasuke figured after the first time speaking with her that she was odd. She was quiet, always had a book in her hand, with her pale eyes usually rapidly going back and forth on the page. It seemed her goal was to go through every single book that was in the library. It didn’t seem she had taste. She read whatever was available. She usually sat on one of the lawn chairs placed right by the back door with whichever staff was outside with them. Sasuke found himself sitting in one of the chairs next to her during his first full day. For a long time they just sat there, Hinata with her nose in her book, Sasuke staring out into the yard at the others. Sakura and Ino were looking at a magazine together. Lee, Tenten, Chouji, and Kiba were in the middle of some complicated game. 

“What are you reading?” He suddenly asked, looking away from the spectacle of Lee trying to use a baseball bat like a golf club to hit a tennis ball. Hinata looked up from her book, slightly startled by the question.

“It’s a book about the Panama Canal.”

“Is it good?” 

“No,” She said with a little laugh at the end. 

“Oh, do you have anything that you would recommend?” Her smile became more confident.

“Yes, I have tons! I’m trying to work through the library here. I think it will take a while. The old man that left Tsunade this place was a scholar, so he left a lot of books behind. Tsunade is always adding to the collection as well. What are you interested in reading about?” Sasuke was not a recreational reader, so he felt a little out of place when Hinata took him to the library and placed a small stack of books in his hands. Though not as avid as Hinata by any means, he began sitting on the lawn chair next to her and reading for an hour or so.

A whole week went by and Sasuke felt like he was getting into somewhat of a routine. He was usually woken up around 6:30am each morning from commotion coming from out in the hallway. He quickly came to realize that Lee and Kiba had one volume when speaking, and it was loud. By 7am, he was in the dining room having breakfast. It was usually just cereal and fruit, milk and sometimes juice. One day Iruka had made pancakes, and Ino had whined for the rest of the morning about getting syrup in her hair. The day usually played out the same, with mornings spent outdoors if it was good weather and then the afternoons were freetime. Sakura had explained to him that sometimes they did go on outings, but none were scheduled for a week or so yet. 

Sakura and him were regularly assigned chores with Kakashi. Sakura was efficient, but a bit nit-picky, always pointing out that Sasuke missed a spot while cleaning, sometimes even going over what he had already done. All in all, he felt like he was coping for the most part. He tried not to think about Itachi or any of his life before. He focused on Sakura’s kind smile, the book Hinata had recommended him read, and the quiet camaraderie that came from taking a smoke with Shikamaru and Neji. 

On his 7th day here, Team Kakashi was tasked with laundry duty. It was the worst task, aside from cleaning toilets. The laundry room was in the basement. The washer and dryer were industrial sized, designed for cleaning large amounts of clothing at a time. Sasuke was quick to find out that the laundry system at the home was convoluted at best. Though the task was annoying, there was a bit of downtime in between tasks. It was during one spurt of downtime when he was summoned to speak with Tsunade, the woman who ran the place, even though Sasuke had yet to see her the entire week he had been there. 

Kakashi walked him back to the area where he was shown on his first day. Instead of the door to Tsunade’s office being shut and quiet, the door was open with a dim light coming from inside the room. Kakashi signaled for him to go inside, which he did, a surge of pride washed over him for not hesitating before entering. Sasuke saw as he entered, a pretty woman with long blond hair slouching behind a desk. A stack of papers was placed before her, other notes and files were scattered around the desk and several piles were placed on the floor. A radio was sitting at the corner of her desk, lowly playing old country western music. “Sit,” The woman instructed him in a stern voice. Sasuke sat in one of the worn leather chairs that were placed in front of the desk. He heard the door shut and Kakashi quietly retreating when he did so.

“So you’re the Uchiha brat, aren’t you?” She asked, looking down at the file that she opened. Sasuke determined that was  _ his  _ file. He wondered what all it contained.

“Yes, my name is Sasuke.” He replied. He felt like this was a test of sorts. He did not want to fail. 

“My name is Tsunade. I’m head of house here. I’m also a doctor and a licensed therapist. I’ve been reading your file. I’ve gotta say, Sasuke, it sounds like you’ve had a pretty turbulent childhood so far. Would you agree with that statement?”

“I don’t know what would give you reason to think that.” Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest. Tsunade looked up from his file to stare at him skeptically. 

“Well I think it is the combination of the fact that you were orphaned at a young age when your parents died in a house fire, then went to go live with your fraternal grandmother who was mostly benevolent but chain-smoked and watched the shopping channel late into the night. After she died of a heart attack, you were the one to find the body. After that, somehow, your brother was thought fit enough to take care of himself and of you. You were left alone for sometimes days at a time, so your brother could play chemist and sell his product, that is until he got arrested and you were sent here. Is that reason enough for my assumption?” Sasuke felt see-through. His first instinct was to deflect.

“It’s kind of weird that you know so much about me,” He smirked, giving of an air of nonchalance. 

“It’s my job to know about you,” She scoffed. “After reading through all of this, I can say for certain that I know more about you than you know about yourself. But that’s besides the point. I wanted to talk to you about how you are feeling. I can already tell you’re a tough nut to crack, but I need to know a little bit of your emotional wellbeing at the moment to do my job properly.”

“What do you know about my brother?” Sasuke asked, not wanting to spend any time on his feelings. Tsunade furrowed her eyebrows, and looked back down at the file. 

“Itachi Uchiha, 21,” He voice was monotone, “Currently detained on charges of drug manufacturing, trafficking, and distribution. An investigation is in progress, and nothing else of value has been disclosed at this time.” 

“So there’s no telling how long I’m going to be here.” 

“Sorry, kid, you’re stuck here until some things get ironed out. Your brother’s case could move fast or it could take ages, and even then, we don’t know what the outcome would be. It's his first run in with the law, but you really never know exactly how these things can pan out. Also, you don’t have any close relatives that could take you, and unfortunately, your age group is not necessarily the most desired for foster parents. Even if you get placed with a family, there’s no telling that it would work out.” Sasuke’s head spun. The thought of going with a foster family sounded even worse than staying at the group home. It was time to deflect again.

“So you want to know my emotional state?” He asked, another smirk, slightly more forced, put on his face. “I feel perfectly fine.”

“Hmmm....well, from my observation, I would say that you’re a little depressed, maybe a touch of PTSD to go along with it, but what do I know, I’m just a doctor.” She smirked back at Sasuke. He frowned. Tsunade looked at her wristwatch. “I don’t want to keep you too long. I know sitting here talking with me is the last thing you want to be doing. I’ll talk to you again soon. Hopefully next time we can talk a little less about your brother and more about you.” Sasuke stood up from his seat. She was right. He did not want to be here. He would rather be doing laundry. He made his way back to the laundry room, Sakura giving him a knowing look as he came into the space. He rolled his eyes, deflecting all of her questions for the rest of the day, no matter how innocent they sounded. He knew where they would lead.

A couple of days later, Sasuke was out in the hidden area with Shikamaru and Neji, when out of the blue Shikamaru announced, “We’re getting a new kid. Probably tomorrow or the day after.” 

“How do you know?” Sasuke asked, curiosity peaked. He wondered how often they got new people. 

“I’ve been here for a long time. It’s just a feeling in the air almost.” Shikamaru looked up at the sky and took a long drag of his cigarette. 

“Asuma also might have let it slip yesterday when he was out here with us,” Neji piped in with a smirk on his face. 

“Neji, you don’t have to be so annoying. I was trying to look cool in front of the new kid.” Neji rolled his eyes.

“He’s not going to be the new kid very much longer.” Sasuke didn’t know what to focus on.

“Asuma smokes with you guys?” He asked first, incredulous at the idea of one of the staff members lighting up with their wards.

“Asuma is even worse than Kakashi if you can believe it,” Shikamaru replied.

“Did Asuma say anything about the new person? Like who they were?” Sasuke asked.

“No, no details,” Shikamaru sighed, “I would ask Sakura about that. Her being the welcome committee and all. She probably has the scoop.” Sasuke nodded, snuffing the last bit of his cigarette against a tree stump. He told Shikamaru and Neji that he was going to head back. They seemed to want to stay for another smoke. Neji just shook his head. Shikamaru sighed again, nonchalantly waving his hand in a goodbye motion as Sasuke got up to leave. 

“Hey,” Shikamaru started as Sasuke began walking away. Sasuke turned back to look at him. “Check to see if the other bed in your room is made. That’ll give you a clue.” 

When Sasuke went back to his room that afternoon, the first thing he saw was the neatly made bed in the opposite corner of his own. Sasuke groaned internally. He was getting a roommate. He needed to find as much about this guy as he could before he got here. He needed to know what he should expect. The only roommate he had ever had was Itachi, when they lived with his granny. Itachi had been a clean freak, always nagging Sasuke about the clothes he left lying around, his homework assignments sprawled on the floor, his legos leaving imprints on Itachi’s heels. Sasuke looked around to his side of the room. He had gotten better over the course of years of Itachi’s nagging, but quickly made it a point to make his bed and tidy up his desk area, hearing his brother’s voice in the back of his head, mildly threatening. He would have to find Sakura as soon as possible. 

He found her in the rec room playing a colorful video game with Kiba. From the looks of it, she was winning. He stepped into her line of sight. “I’ll be done in just a second. I’m one move away from kicking Kiba’s butt.” She said, glancing over to him. He nodded, letting her know that he would be out in the hall. Leaving the room, he met eyes with Kakashi, who as usual, was sitting in the corner with his face in a book. He seemed to have an amused look in his eye, and Sasuke felt that he was being laughed at. Sasuke shook his head and glared back at Kakashi before exiting the room. Sakura was not lying when she had told him earlier that it would only take a minute to finish her round with Kiba. She walked up to him with a quiet, confident look in her eyes that made it clear that she had won. 

“What’s up?” She asked. “Is everything okay?” 

“So I’m getting a roommate,” He started, watching as Sakura’s expression changed to surprise.

“How do you know? Who let it out?” She asked. For a second, Sasuke wanted to pull a Shikamaru, say something about how he couldn’t disclose his sources. 

“The other bed in my room is made up.” Sakura laughed.

“Oh well that explains why you know. Honestly, having a roommate isn’t too bad. Ino is the messiest person in the world, but even she isn’t too bad on most days. You’ll get used to it.” 

“Do you know anything about him? Since you’re welcome committee?” The surprised look on Sakura’s face returned. The surprise quickly left her face, and shifted to a look of annoyance, her right eye twitching slightly. 

“I can’t tell you anything about the new person. It would be a violation of the trust that Tsunade has placed in me. Also ethically not very good. Aren’t you glad that I wasn’t running around telling everyone before you came your name and where you came from?” Sasuke knew she was right. It wouldn’t be fair for this new kid to walk in here with people already having preconceived notions about their situation. Sasuke had been there for two weeks at this point and still hadn’t disclosed information about his past, besides off hand comments to Shikamaru and Neji, who he knew would not pry further. He obviously knew Tsunade knew and Kakashi as well. Other staff members probably knew the basics, and Sakura was given maybe a few details from Tsunade. It wasn’t fair to this person for Sasuke to know things about him that he didn’t want him to know. “You’re right,” he muttered to Sakura. He began to walk away, feeling guilty to have gotten caught up in house gossip, something that felt extremely uncool to him. 

“Wait!” Sakura started and Sasuke turned back around to her. “I know you didn’t mean anything by asking. You were probably just curious, and I  _ totally  _ get that. Just don’t get your hopes up. Honestly, your best bet is to tune him out. I know you’ll be rooming together but…” Sakura paused and shook her head. “I can’t say anything more. He’ll be here tomorrow morning.” Though she spoke her words fast, Sasuke felt himself pause as the meaning of her words washed over him.

“So you know him?” He asked. Sure, Sakura would probably know the kid’s name, his age, maybe the bare bones of his situation, but she shouldn’t know about his personality. She shouldn’t be able to talk like she had interacted with him before. The look on her face said it all. Her pale green eyes widened when he asked the question. She really shouldn’t have said a thing. She let out a sigh, eyes darting to look away from Sasuke’s face. 

“He may have been here before. But I am not telling you anything else.” She fiddle with a strand of her pink hair.

“Okay.” He replied simply. She looked confused, as if she was thinking he would push for more information, but Sasuke knew better. He could ask more about this mystery person from Shikamaru or Neji. He didn’t need to pull Sakura’s teeth to get more information. Sasuke thanked Sakura and politely declined her invitation back into the breakroom to play her in a round of the colorful video game. Though Sakura was nice and kind to him, he had quickly realized that there was a limit to the amount of time he could spend around her without getting annoyed.

He walked off to the boys’ dorm hallway, his intention to go straight to his room, to either read or doze. Maybe Tsunade was right. Maybe he was depressed. He stopped when he saw that the door to Neji and Shikamaru’s room was open. He stopped at the threshold, noting that Neji was at the desk in the corner, looking to be engulfed in a drawing he was working on. Neji had a talent for that sort of thing. His drawings were really good. Shikamaru was sitting cross-legged on the floor in front of a slightly tattered chess board. He was the one to notice Sasuke, looking up from where he was contemplating moves. “What’s up, Uchiha? Get the scoop from Sakura?” Sasuke paused. His intention was to see if Shikamaru had any idea who this mystery person could be, someone that had been here before, someone Sakura had urged him to ignore. Surely Shikamaru could piece the puzzle together with that. But instead, Sasuke paused and a surge of guilt washed over his body. This was uncool and this was petty. Why was he so concerned about this new kid anyway? He was getting a roommate. He was sharing his space. The most he needed to know was whether this kid snored, and he probably couldn’t find that out from Sakura, Shikamaru, or Neji. He would have to find that out for himself.

“No, she wouldn’t tell me anything about him.” Sasuke shrugged and began to walk away. He could hear Shikamaru sigh out a “How boring.” Sasuke holed himself in his room for the rest of the day, relishing the last day where he could go into this room and be guaranteed solitude. 

The next day went along with the same routine that Sasuke was getting used to. He woke up to the sound of Kiba trying to rap the ingredients listed on the back of a shampoo bottle. Kiba was probably the loudest person that Sasuke had ever encountered. He almost dared to say he would be the loudest person he would  _ ever  _ encounter. Breakfast was the normal buzz. He sat across from Hinata, who asked him how he was liking the ghost story she had recommended. He was liking it alright so far, but he hadn’t come to any of the scary bits yet. Hinata just gave a small smile and told him to keep reading. Even after knowing her for such a short time, Sasuke knew that she really liked creepy stuff. Sasuke wondered when the new kid would be coming. If it was anything like when Sasuke arrived, it would be sometime in the morning, when everyone else was outside.

Sasuke went outside when everybody else did, sat under a tree for a while and listened to Sakura talk about a boy band that had someone in it that looked just like him. After a while, Sakura left to go help Tenten with a new hairstyle she was wanting to try out, leaving him alone under the tree. He saw Hinata in her usual reading spot. He decided that in a minute he would join her. Sasuke reclined back against the trunk of the tree, letting his eyes shut. The light that showed through the shade of the tree danced on his eyelids. He breathed deeply. Despite that he was adjusting decently to life at the home, sometimes he felt overwhelmed by it all. He was not used to the constant company. He was used to spending large amounts of time isolated from the outside world, the only communication coming from his brother’s taciturn text messages. It felt strange to him that there was always someone around, someone to talk to or rely on if he needed something. He heard a loud shriek and peeked open his eyes to see that Shino had found a large beetle and was holding it out to Ino, who had her eyes scrunched closed in disgust. Sasuke got up from his seat under the tree. He walked over to the back door of the house, quickly letting Kurenai know he was just going to run in and get his book from his room. She nodded her head distractedly and turned her head back to Asuma who was gesturing to something on his phone animatedly. 

Sasuke walked in the back door and made his way to the back staircase that led up to the 2nd floor dormitories. He took his time. Though the summer morning air was pleasant, the air-conditioning, though somewhat shoddy, especially upstairs, hit differently on the back of his legs and neck. He had no thought other than to go into his room to grab his book. Well, not completely true. He thought briefly of the made-up bed in his room, but briefly moved his thoughts to his book. The kid probably wasn’t even there yet. He would have to wait to meet him later. 

As he was approaching the top of the stairs, he heard a new voice, followed by what he knew were the mutterings of Kakashi. The voice responded, passionate and loud enough that Sasuke could hear him clearly down a few steps on the other end of the hall. “I just don’t understand what I could have done different, Kakashi Sensei. I tried my best, you gotta believe that!” Kakashi sighed. 

“I believe you, Naruto.” Sasuke could hear a fond exasperation in his voice. Sasuke did not want to be seen at this point and thought it would be best to just head back down the stairs, book forgotten. He could find something else to do to occupy his time. He took a step down quietly, feeling at this point that he was probably in the clear. He took a couple more steps, letting the kid’s voice fade the further he descended. He could hear Sakura’s voice mixed in with his, sounding slightly more shrill that usual. He was about midway down the stairs when he felt the presence of someone at the top. He did not turn around and kept heading downward, feigning a sense of calmness. Until he heard Kakashi’s voice.

“Sasuke?” He questioned. Sasuke slowly turned around and eyed him with what he hoped, read as a neutral look. Kakashi’s eyes squinted into a beam, his normally plain black or blue mask replaced with one that had a cartoonish smile with sharp shark-like teeth printed on the front.  _ Just....why?  _ Sasuke thought. “You’re just the guy I was hoping to see, Sasuke,” Kakashi continued, “Come on up and meet your new roommate.” There was almost something sadistic in his tone that Sasuke could not put his finger on. He immediately decided that all previous perceptions of Kakashi were overruled due to this interaction. Kakashi was an asshole, plain and simple. 

Sasuke followed Kakashi back up the stairs and came up to the hallway of the boy’s dorm. The voices of Sakura and boy brightened, but he honestly couldn’t tell if they were bickering or just having an intense conversation. When he got to the top of the stairs, he stopped, looking at the two on the other end of the hallway. Sakura was typical, hair tied back with a bandana, neat appearance in knee length denim shorts and a strawberry pink tee shirt. The boy was different. Sasuke felt his brain short circuit when he looked him over. The boy had brilliant blond hair, messy, slightly outgrown the cut. His hair contrasted with his tan skin. Freckles dotted his face and arms. He also had very intense blue eyes that Sasuke found himself looking away from quickly when he met their gaze. The kid was also dressed almost head to toe in orange, a short sleeve hooded shirt in bright orange and burnt cargo shorts. The two colors clashed. This kid was loud and colorful, something that Sasuke was not used to  _ at all.  _ Sasuke could feel Kakashi stand behind him. “Naruto,” Kakashi began, catching the kid’s, Naruto’s attention, “This is Sasuke. He’s going to be your roommate.” Naruto looked at Sasuke with a cheeky smile. 

“So you’re the new Gaara?” Naruto asked, ticking his head slightly to the side, gaze still fixed on Sasuke. “You’re sleeping in my bed you know! I used to have the one on the right hand side.” Naruto pointed into their room, presumably pointing at Sasuke's bed. Sasuke rolled his eyes. He couldn’t exactly tell if this kid was trying to be funny, or was actually upset about the bed situation, not like he really cared either way.

“Aren’t you going to introduce yourself?” Sasuke scoffed, “and I am not the new Gaara. I don’t know if you have trouble hearing or what, but Kakashi clearly just told you that my name is Sasuke.” Naruto’s eyes widened at his words and his cheeks dusted lightly pink. 

“I can hear just fine,  _ Sasuke _ .” He said Sasuke’s name exaggeratingly slow. “My name is Uzumaki Naruto! If you ask nicely, I’ll even give you my autograph. One day when I become famous, it’ll be worth a lot of money.” Sakura, who had been standing to the side, being quietly judgmental of the conversation thus far, let out an audible groan and rubbed her forehead in frustration. 

“Naruto, would you shut it about the ‘becoming famous’ thing! It’s like one on the top ten most obnoxious things you do!” Naruto crossed his arms and gave a slight pout in Sakura’s direction.

“Just crush my dreams, Sakura-chan. I could be the next president, you know?” Sakura ignored the pout, and Sasuke huffed. This was something completely new, like witnessing a car crash, Sasuke could not avert his gaze from the orange boy now matter how much he wanted to. He was just too much all at once. Naruto kept talking, bouncing between responding to Sakura’s grumbling comments and commenting about the house, how it had changed, how it had stayed the same since he had last been there. In his brief lapses of silence, his eyes trailed back to Sasuke. The look in his eye was something that Sasuke could not completely understand. Sasuke could understand pity, sadness, indifference all through a look in the eye, but he could not quite catch what was framed in Naruto’s eyes. It was part hunger, part anxiety, part loneliness, but it wasn’t that at all. Sasuke found himself having to force to meet his gaze, his first instinct to look away. Sasuke realized that his earlier notions of not needing any advanced knowledge on this kid was wrong, very very wrong. Though any prior information would not have prepared him for Uzumaki Naruto, it may have helped a little. 

  
  
  
  
  
  
  



	2. Chapter 2

“Oh!” Naruto exclaimed, his arms going up in the air, and zipped back into the room from where he was standing out in the hallway. He began rifling through his bags, as if looking for something. Naruto’s “tour” had ended when Sasuke had met up with the other three, but all were still gathered around Sasuke and Naruto’s room. Kakashi was clearly just a spectator to Naruto’s chaotic energy, while he got the feeling that all Sakura wanted to do was reign it in, going beat red and raising her voice when not successful. Sasuke felt numb from the neverending onslaught of Naruto. He didn’t stop. Talking, fidgeting, gesturing, facial expressions. He was everywhere all at once. Sasuke felt like he was being held hostage.

“Ah! I found it!” Naruto called out, holding a small package in the air, wrapped messily in gold paper. “I got you something Kakashi Sensei! Don’t think you’re special though! I got something for Iruka Sensei and Granny, too! I was going to mail them to you guys, but since I ended up back here anyway….” Naruto shifted his gaze and scratched the back of his head nervously, before handing the package to Kakashi. 

“Oh…. um…. thank you,” Kakashi said awkwardly, before sticking the package into his back pant pocket.

“Uh, aren’t you going to open it?” Naruto questioned, his face screwed into a suspicious scowl, arms crossed over his chest. Surprisingly, Sakura joined in with an enthusiastic “Yeah, open it!” Kakashi rolled his eyes and brought the package out from his pocket and began to unwrap it slowly. Sasuke was curious to know what kind of gift Naruto would give to Kakashi. He discreetly peered over Kakashi’s arm to get a look while he was unwrapping it. Naruto was doing something similar, though he obviously knew what was inside.  _ Idiot.  _ Inside the package was a small piece of neon orange fabric, that upon closer look, Sasuke realized was a cloth face mask, similar to the ones that Kakashi mysteriously wore everyday. Sasuke smirked. 

“You gotta wear it at least once!” Naruto exclaimed as Kakashi held the mask up with his thumb and forefinger. Sasuke couldn’t tell what Kakashi felt at first, until he saw his eyes crinkle into what Sasuke interpreted as a beam. 

“Oh I’ll wear it more than once,” Kakashi explained. “I’ll wear it on all of my days off from work.” Naruto’s mouth fell open, and he made an indigent squawk. “Thank you, Naruto. That was very kind of you,” Kakashi then said in an honest voice. Naruto smiled up at him.

“Well, I’m needed downstairs, so I’ll leave you kids to it,” Kakashi sighed, and with a wave of his hand, he was heading down the stairs. As Kakashi disappeared down the staircase, there was one quiet moment in which Sasuke realized that he was stuck in an awkward situation now, inserted in between Sakura, who he was friends with but who was acting slightly unhinged when next to Naruto, and Naruto, a kid that he had just met but was already giving Sasuke a million reactions and emotions at once, culminating into one big headache. His instinct was telling him to get away as soon as possible. As soon as Kakashi was out of sight, Sasuke turned from the other two and headed down the hallway to the stairs. As he retreated, he could hear a shift behind him. 

“Hey, Sasuke! Where are you going? I thought since we’re sharing a room, we could bond or something!” Sasuke looked back for a moment, noticing Naruto’s curious expression, his eyebrows quizzical. He suddenly felt very tired. This kid was so annoying.

“I’m not interested,” Sasuke replied, before turning and continued walking. Even though he had only known Naruto for 15 minutes at the most, Sasuke could picture the boy fuming at his response. 

“No need to be an asshole,” he heard Naruto retort.  _ Idiot.  _ He let out a sigh and continued walking. He could hear Sakura scold Naruto for the language and for calling names. 

“Sasuke is better than you are, so don’t get cocky and call him names! You’re lucky I tolerate you as much as I do!” Sasuke flinched at Sakura’s harsh words but continued to walk away. 

Sasuke found a secluded spot away from everyone until lunch rolled around. He was the last one in the dining room, and as soon as he entered, he felt a change in the atmosphere now that Naruto was among them. Naruto was already sitting at the table, in the middle, sat in between Sakura and Hinata, but talking animatedly with Kiba, who sat across from him. Of course those two would be friends, Sasuke thought. Sasuke immediately tuned out their loud discussion and took notice of the slight blush that was on Hinata’s face as she looked almost adoringly at Naruto as he talked. That was….unexpected to say the least. Everyone in the room seemed slightly more at ease than usual. Sasuke figured that since Naruto had been at the home before, it would be like reuniting with an old friend. Sasuke got his food and sat at the end of one of the benches, next to Shikamaru, who looked as bored as ever and across from Shino, who has a slight smile on his face. It kind of gave Sasuke the creeps. He had only seen Shino smile when he was about to deposit a bug of some sort onto someone’s unsuspecting head. He made brief eye contact with Naruto across the table, before Naruto turned his attention back to whatever Kiba was talking about. Sasuke did not make conversation. Even when Shikamaru made some muttering comment about “the roommate situation” which was clearly directed at Sasuke, the most he did was shrug a shoulder and continue to eat. Sasuke continued like this until he noticed a change in tone of the loud conversation that was taking place in the middle of the table. 

“So like of course, I’m happy to see your obnoxious face and everything, but why are you back here, dude? You made this big deal when you left that you had found your forever home or some garbage and now you’re back? Was there a return policy that you weren’t aware of?” Kiba’s voice wasn’t exactly hostile, but there was something borderline about it that left a bad taste in Sasuke’s mouth. He looked up at his food to just see a flash of fear? Resentment? Anger? In Naruto’s blue eyes. It was quickly masked by a too wide grin that scrunched his eyes almost closed.

“Well actually, I asked to come back. Turns out they were really weird and religious and didn’t eat meat and were really strict. Their kids were really weird too. They never wanted to talk about anything fun ever. It always had to be about morals or school work or something. I was practically begging to come back after the first week!” Naruto forced a laugh and Kiba followed suit, the subject quickly changed again. Sasuke quickly finished his food and left before anyone else. 

Evening came quickly and before long it was time for everyone to retreat to their rooms for the night. Sasuke was already perched on his bed reading, when Naruto burst in, still buzzing with energy even though it was almost time to sleep. Naruto’s stuff was still in a semi-unpacked state, sprawled over the floor and on his bed. He quickly slid the stuff off of his bed, thumping onto the floor. The only things left on the bed were a lumpy stuffed frog and a ratty orange comforter that Naruto wrapped himself up in when he sat on the bed. Blue eyes stared at him from across the room. Was he expecting Sasuke to make conversation? Sasuke huffed, rolled his eyes, and shut his book dramatically, tossing it onto his pillow and looking back at Naruto with a challenging look in his eyes. “What?” Sasuke asked. The edge he meant to be to his words was not there. Maybe just a tad bit of exasperation at most. Naruto pouted and leaned back against the wall and pulled his comforter tighter around him.

“Nothing, it just seems like you’ve been avoiding me is all.” he shiftily looked away. 

“We don’t even know each other, and we’re not friends. We are roommates. I don’t have any reason to avoid you or otherwise.” Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, stared dully at the blond across from him. 

“Well, duh!” Naruto retorted, verve restored to what Sasuke figured was normal for Naruto. “We may not know each other real well  _ yet _ , but if you keep avoiding me, we won’t  _ get _ to know each other either!” Sasuke suddenly felt very tired. 

“I’m going to turn out the light,” he muttered and got up out of his bed to flip the light switch. With the soft click of the switch, they were surrounded in darkness, the only light coming from the hallway through the crack in the door. Sasuke sat back on the bed and reclined onto his pillow. For a minute it was silent. He wondered if he had discouraged Naruto enough for him to stop talking for the night. 

“So like are you asleep now?” Naruto mocked whispered. Sasuke sighed and thought about throwing something at him.

“No I’m not asleep.” His voice was deadpan. 

“Okay, good.” Naruto was still whispering for some reason, but there was a giddy tone to his voice. Sasuke shifted under the covers to get more comfortable. “So Sasuke, who exactly are you?” 

My name is Uchiha Sasuke. I’m 13. I’ve not been here really long and hopefully, I won’t have to stay here much longer. I hope that answers your question.”

“Well, not really, no.” Naruto giggled. “What do you like? That kind of stuff. Surely, you have something.”  
“I like music, but I don’t have a way of listening to it here. I’ve started reading since I’ve been here. I used to be on the basketball team at my school, and I liked that, but I quit a year or so ago, because of my brother’s weird schedule. He wouldn’t have been around to pick me up from games.” Sasuke paused, a little freaked. This was the most he’d divulged with anyone since he had been here. Tsunade hadn’t even got that much really. In that moment, Sasuke wished he could press a rewind button somewhere, ignore this kid and feign sleep. 

“Oh em gee!” Still with the fake whisper, Naruto shot out of bed and began ruffling through one of his bags. This lasted for a minute or so before Naruto sighed and climbed back into his bed. “I’ll have to find it tomorrow,” he murmured. Sasuke had no idea what that was all about. “Anyway,” Naruto continued, seemingly forgetting about his frantic searching just a minute ago, “You have a brother? How old is he? Is he like an adult or?” Sasuke’s jaw tightened. He thought about just telling Naruto to  _ fuck off _ , but something stopped him. It could have been the genuine interest that rang through Naruto’s questions. Sasuke felt like Naruto honestly wanted to know about him, with nothing else attached to it, no expectations. 

“Itachi, my brother, is,  _ was,  _ is my guardian. He’s 21.” There was a brief moment of silence. 

“Oh! So-” 

“I don’t want to talk about him.” Sasuke interrupted him, suddenly feeling like he was trapped in a conversation that he didn’t want to have, lulled into a false sense of security by Naruto’s playful idiocy.

“That’s fine, I just-”

“I’m serious. ” Though it was dark in the room. Sasuke sent a glare in Naruto’s direction so hard he didn’t feel as if it needed to be seen. I could be felt.

“Gotcha,” Naruto said with a sigh. “We can change the subject.”

“Well, if you want us to be buddy-buddy or whatever, you have to share about you too.” Sasuke was happy to deflect the conversation onto Naruto. He already knew that Naruto was a talker, so he figured the most he would have to do would be to respond briefly in the pauses and right moments, annoying, but less painful then having to talk about himself or his brother. 

“Oh, of course! Well, you know my name. I’m 13 too. I like music too. I’ve got an old IPod here somewhere with like loads of stuff on it, so you can borrow it if you want. I like comics. Before I left the last time, Neji was teaching me how to draw some, and I was making my own. I like to make up stories, it's fun. I also do sports too, but it's been hard for me to stick to one. I did soccer for a little while, but I had to quit half season cuz of a placement opportunity, but turns out  _ that one  _ fell through, but at that point I was too embarrassed to join back. I like basketball too. Kiba is on the team at school, so sometimes I would help him practice and stuff.”

“You seem to know everyone here really well,” Sasuke interjected. He felt that if he let him, Naruto would have continued to talk for who knows how long. After Sasuke’s comment, Naruto remained silent. His thoughts were loud though, and Sasuke could practically feel his brain pause before trying to catch up after his comment.

“Well, yeah I’ve been here for a few years now, and I guess you just get to know people, especially the ones that stick around,” Naruto murmured, sounding almost sullen. From Naruto’s previous comments, Sasuke thought that Naruto seemed to be one of the ones that stuck around, like a regular. Whether he realized it or not, Sasuke was trying to fish out an attachment, a tie that Naruto had outside of this place. Where was Naruto’s family? A parent? A brother? Sasuke had divulged his brother. Why wouldn’t Naruto give him something in return? 

“Whatever, you act like you like it here, which is weird and doesn’t make sense.” Sasuke scoffed, really getting to the point of his last comment. 

“What’s wrong with liking it here, asshole!?” fake whisper completely gone, “Sorry I can’t be miserable all the time like you are.” A silence stretched long after Naruto spoke. Sasuke knew Naruto had a point to some degree but was angry at him nonetheless. Right when Sasuke thought that maybe Naruto went to sleep, he heard Naruto mumble, “You just don’t get it.”

“No, I think you’re the one that doesn’t get it, idiot.” Sasuke turned on his other side, slightly curling up.

“Who are you calling an idiot?”

“You. I’m going to bed now.” Sasuke shut his eyes.

“Hey! Don’t think I’m going to let you get the last word here!” Naruto burst out. Sasuke groaned and wrinkled his brows. 

“How about you just shut up!” Sasuke retorted, raising his voice for the first time during their conversation.

“How about  _ you _ shut up!” Sasuke sighed and reached over to his desk and grabbed his book and chucked it as hard as he could in Naruto’s direction. He heard a thump, hoping that he made a connection. 

“You bastard!” 

The next morning, Sasuke and Naruto did not speak and avoided each other's gazes as they got ready for the day. Sasuke realized that Naruto was not tidy at all, so he would not have to worry about being judged or scolded for his own disorderly tendencies. He also noted the amount of orange in Naruto’s wardrobe. It was absurd. Sasuke left their room first, his toothbrush in hand, headed for the bathroom. He luckily did not encounter anyone there, other than Shino, who just silently appraised him. Sasuke probably wouldn’t have wanted to talk to him even if he did decide to start a conversation. When he went back to the room to drop off his toothbrush, Naruto had already gone. When Sasuke placed his toothbrush in the little cup on his desk, he saw a dingy old IPod with a pair of tangle earbuds attached to it. Sasuke scoffed, quickly contemplating setting the thing back in Naruto’s pile of stuff on the other side of the room. Instead, he pocketed the device, tangled earbuds and all. Even though their talk last night ended in a petty argument, Naruto still offered this, as a peace offering? 

Sasuke continued his routine that he made for himself since being at the home, a little in spite of Naruto’s bright fizzle of a voice that seemed to disrupt everything. At breakfast, though he sat at the opposite end of the table, he could practically hear Naruto’s whole conversation with Kiba and Lee. They were discussing reviving some sort of game it seemed. Naruto was asking animatedly if Lee could help him “get everything set up.” 

Lee nodded enthusiastically back, “Of course! You have no idea how excited I was to start this next round! When I heard you were back, that was the first thing I thought of!” Naruto then swiveled his attention to Hinata, who was sitting next to him. 

“Hinata, I’ll need your help too!”

“Of course, Naruto-kun,” Hinata said shakily back. Sasuke could not see her face, but he figured she was blushing just how she had been the evening before. 

After breakfast, Hinata, Lee, and Naruto sat in the back area where Hinata usually read and discussed, their heads bent over in concentration. Sasuke walked farther out, his eyes set on a particular tree that he had become quite fond of sitting under. When was almost there, he heard Sakura shout his name. He looked over and saw her waving at him. Tenten was close by, focused on carving out a large circular shape with a yardstick. Sakura had a yardstick in her hand as well. “We’re doing a ritual!” Sakura shouted. “Come join!”  _ A ritual. No thank you.  _ Sasuke shook his head and made a gesture with his hand, hoping to convey something like “you go ahead.” Sakura just shrugged her shoulders and went back to helping Tenten create the circle. Sasuke sat down underneath the tree and pulled out the orange IPod from his jean pocket. It took him at least a couple of minutes to untangle the earbuds. He turned the device on. The device was stuffed, memory full of countless albums, spanning at least 5 decades of music. Sasuke grunted, wondering who had curated the music on this device for Naruto. Surely all of this was not the idiot’s doing. Sasuke found the The Black Parade album by My Chemical Romance and put it on. Sasuke liked MCR, even though his brother had told him more than once that it was basically trash and lame. His brother was kind of the biggest asshole he knew though. 

He couldn’t even escape Naruto completely when he went out to the back to smoke with Shikamaru and Neji. Even though neither of them specifically talked about Naruto, something in their tones of voice that let Sasuke know that they were specifically  _ not  _ mentioning Naruto’s name around Sasuke, because they knew he would be crabby about it. Instead, Shikarmaru asked Neji questions about what went on “on top of the hill.” 

From what Sasuke could gather, the middle school and the high school that everyone here attended was technically on the same campus, but two separate buildings. The middle school sat down low at the very entrance off the road, but the high school sat further back, on top of a hill, giving it a sort of prestigious look compared to the other building. Sasuke had not gone to this school last year, but supposed he would, unless he got out before the start of the semester. It was nearing August though. Neji was going to be a sophomore, and though Sasuke was pretty sure that Shikamaru was the same age as him, Shikamaru was going to be a freshman. I guess at some point, Shikamaru had skipped a grade, which he talked about as if it was the greatest failing of his young life. Sasuke half-heartedly listened as Neji talked to Shikamaru about which classes to take and with which teachers, along with general information about the layout of the building. Sasuke would be going into 8th grade, so the information wasn’t exactly relevant. 

After lunch, Kakashi wrangled Sakura, Naruto, and him to the kitchen to dole out chores for the afternoon. All three lined up with Kakashi facing them. Sasuke stood on one side of Sakura, while Naruto was on her other side. He still hadn’t talked to him since the night before, but when he put his hand into the pocket of his jeans, he could feel the old IPod. He tried to make eye contact with Naruto, but when Naruto realized that Sasuke was looking at him, he made some sort of noise in between a growl and a huff before pointedly looking at Kakashi.  _ Whatever. Throw a fit like an idiot.  _ Kakashi was leaning on the counter top, a bored look in his eyes. He sighed. “Well, I have to say that my first impression of you guys as a team is not that great.” On Sasuke’s list of annoyances, Kakashi just stole the 2nd place slot away from Sakura. Obviously, Naruto was number one. 

“What does it matter as long as the chores get done?” Sasuke asked, not even trying to hide the irritation in his voice. 

“The jerk has a point,” He heard Naruto mutter. Sasuke glanced over to see Naruto with his hands across his chest, pointedly looking in the opposite direction of where Sasuke was. Kakashi sighed and shrugged his shoulders. Meanwhile, Sakura balled her fists and wrinkled her forehead.

“The whole point of doing chores in teams is to learn teamwork!” Sakura practically exploded. “Like for real, it is not that hard to figure out!” She looked over to Naruto. “I’m beginning to think that you’re  _ both  _ idiots!” She then turned her head to look at Sasuke. “Sorry, Sasuke but it’s the truth.” She crossed her arms over her chest with a sour look on her face. 

“I know that it's about teamwork, Sakura,” Naruto replied, “But it’s impossible to talk about teamwork with that bastard!” Sasuke just rolled his eyes.

“Naruto,” Kakashi sighed; Sasuke looked over to him to see that he had his face in his book, “language. What would Iruka say?” Naruto, in a grumble-growl, gave a quick apology. Kakashi continued, “you clearly don’t know that teamwork is about acknowledging your group’s faults and strengths and learning to play those things off of your own strengths and weaknesses. Sakura, you are smart and catch on to things quickly, but you tend to only see things from your point of view and aren’t understanding when someone else has a different approach than you. You also have a penchant for resorting to physical violence, which may be funny on occasion, but I am obligated to say that I do not encourage it in any way. Naruto, you are the opposite, you are emotionally intelligent when you want to be and can easily see things from someone else's point of view, but you can be slow on the uptake when given verbal or written directions. Also, you get distracted easily and are prone to outbursts when you are frustrated and things get difficult. Sasuke, you are good at keeping on task, can easily concentrate and are determined when given a task, even if it is a hard one. You are smart, but have a severe case of emotional constipation. I think the only emotions I’ve seen you exhibiting since you’ve been here are annoyed, angry, and neutral.” Sasuke sent a glare Kakashi’s way. Kakashi just beamed back. Sasuke was pretty much providing evidence to Kakashi’s claim. “You three need to learn to accept the differences in each other.” Naruto groaned and gave a sideways glance to Sasuke, who was still glaring up at Kakashi. 

“Well enough chit chat! The dining room needs to be cleaned and the dishes need to be done. The kitchen also needs to be clean for Team Guy to come in and make dinner.” Naruto groaned again and this time, Sakura joined in. Guy was alway coming up with these really inventive recipes that bordered on inedible. Last time it had been a tuna-noodle-thing that somehow incorporated corn and avocados. Kakashi walked over to the supply closet in the corner of the kitchen and pulled out a foldable metal chair, walked to the empty corner on the opposite side of the room and opened the chair in one smooth motion. He sat down and pulled out his book.  _ Of Course.  _ Naruto groaned a third time with both Sakura and Sasuke joining in the chorus.  _ Worst team leader ever.  _

“Okay guys,” Sakura said with another exaggerated sigh, “We should work on the dining room first and then the kitchen.” She turned around and headed towards the closet to get the cleaning supplies. 

“Fine,” Sasuke said plainly, “but you have to delegate.”

“What do you mean delegate? We’re supposed to do it together as a team.” Sakura replied, coming back towards the other two with a blue plastic bucket filled with bottles of cleaning supplies. Her other hand held a mop. 

“What I’m saying is,” Sasuke huffed, the air slightly ruffling his bangs, “whenever we’re tasked with something like this, you tend to do this thing, where you take over the whole operation and do everything yourself.” Sakura furrowed her brow. Maybe she had never realized before?

“I’m not saying you're wrong, Sasuke. I was on a team with her before I left, you know?” Naruto chimed in, noticing the look on Sakura’s face, trying to placate the situation. “If Sakura wants to take the lead and do most of it, we should let her. I know I’m more of a hindrance than a help most times.” Naruto softly laughed, his eyes scrunching closed and his arm went up to scratch the back of his head. 

“You’re right. You are an idiot,” Naruto gaped at Sasuke, his face growing red, “but that goes against everything that Kakashi just told us. I’m fine with Sakura leading, but she needs to let other people do the tasks that she assigns them without going back and correcting everything they do anyway.” Sasuke crossed his arms over his chest, feeling somewhat self- conscious for what he just said, unsure why. Sakura sighed and slightly shook her head. 

“You’re right, Sasuke,” she said. “What plan did you have in mind?”

“Well, I propose that someone starts with wiping off the table in the dining room, while someone else starts mopping in there. The third will start with dishes in the kitchen. When the person wiping off the table is done, they will come in and help with the dishes. Once the mopping is done in the dining room, that person will come in and start wiping down the counter tops. Then once dishes are done and everything is clean, we mop the kitchen and then we’ll all be done.” Sakura nodded her head, while Naruto looked puzzled, as if he was still trying to figure out who would do what. “Naruto, you start with wiping down the table and then when you are done go into the kitchen to help with dishes. I’ll mop the dining room, while Sakura, you get started on the dishes.”

“Alright, let’s do this!” Naruto shouted, snatching a rag from Sakura’s hand, before rushing into the dining room to start on his task. The chores went by pretty quickly, with little to no bickering between any of them. After the tasks were done, Kakashi gave them an approving look and sent them on their way for them to have freetime for the rest of the afternoon. Before letting them go though, Kakashi announced that later that week, they would have an outing to the city pool, which prompted an excited yelp from Naruto and a big smile from Sakura. Sasuke remained stoic so as to not seem childish. 

The next couple of days remained pretty stable, with a new routine slowing carving its way through the days. Though he wasn’t sure how, Sasuke endeared himself even more to Naruto after the first day of all three of them cleaning the dining room. Naruto would sit next to Sasuke at meals and steal things off his plate while he talked about anything and everything. He would often sit next to him during freetime as well, but scurried off to something else whenever Sasuke pulled out a book or went to the copse to hang out with Neji and Shikamaru. They still argued constantly, sometimes to the point where Sasuke was red and Naruto was blue. It was always about trivial things that shouldn’t have mattered at all, but something about the two of them together caused every minor disagreement or hiccup to explode into a full on argument. 

“Alright, listen here, Bastard!” Naruto exclaimed as the start screen for Ninja Clans III popped up on the TV screen. Unusually, the console had been free, and Naruto had jumped at the chance to play against Sasuke at his favorite game. “I’ll try to go easy on you since it's your first go, but after that, I won’t be takin’ any prisoners. I’m the best at Ninja Clans, and Senji is totally  _ MY  _ character, so don’t even think about choosing him.” Sasuke just hummed in acknowledgement to Naruto’s words, flicking his joystick down to select the character Nori, who looked dark and broody and cool, just what Sasuke thought he would look like if he was older and well, a ninja. Though Naruto explained the controls as though it was a hard task to master, it was pretty much identical to every other fighting game that Sasuke had played and he caught on fairly quickly. Naruto won the first round, and Sasuke allowed him to gloat to his heart's content. The second round he would get his revenge.

“You lied! You said you never played this game before!”Naruto accused, the controller cast aside and his finger firmly pointed at Sasuke’s chest. Sasuke scoffed and rolled his eyes.

“Why would I lie? I haven’t played this game before. Do you find it so hard to believe that someone could beat you, let alone someone who is new to the game? You’re pathetic.” Naruto’s face went red and he widened his eyes at Sasuke’s comment. 

“I’ve played this game for a really long time to get good at it and then you just show up and play once and now you’re better than me. How is that even fair?”

“Life isn’t fair, idiot,” Sasuke retorted, his energy slowly matching up to Naruto’s outburst. 

“Oh wow, so you’re hitting me with the ‘life isn’t fair line’? Not like I’ve ever heard that one before.” Naruto’s version of sarcasm was weak, but it ticked Sasuke off just the same.

“Whatever act like you’ve heard it all before, but clearly you need to hear it again. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be throwing a fit over losing some stupid video game.” Naruto growled.

“I am so going to kick your ass.”

“Bring it,” Sasuke said confidently back. That was when Naruto pounced on him, getting a good grip on his hair and shoved him to the ground. They wrestled on the ground like that for about a minute or so, before Kakashi came over and picked Naruto up by the scruff of his hoodie, telling them both to go cool off on opposite sides of the room. 

An hour later they were fine, sitting in the corner of the wreck room playing rounds of Slap Jack and Speed. Sasuke was perplexed as to why Naruto stuck by him. Sasuke had done nothing to change his quiet and standoffish behavior, but it seemed to Naruto that that didn’t matter. To Naruto, somehow they had become good friends in just a matter of a week. 

Sasuke did not own a pair of sandals or flip flops, so when presented with the situation in the boys’ changing room at the city pool, he slipped off his sneakers, briefly letting the damp of the tiled floor soak into his socks before he slipped those off too and stuffed them into his sneakers. His swimming trunks were really just a pair of basketball shorts that he had borrowed from Naruto. They fit slightly weird on his body, but thankfully were not orange. He grabbed his shoes, and carefully walked out of the changing room, careful of the wet spots. He did not want to fall on the cool hard tile. 

Right outside the exit, he saw Hinata and Shino standing side by side, with Kiba across from them, talking animatedly about something concerning a golden retriever that was being walked on the sidewalk next to the entrance to the pool. Kiba’s hair was pulled back with a neon green headband, which looked very similar to the one that Hinata was using to hold back her own hair. Hinata had on a bathing suit, but also had a hoodie on over it. She looked a little bit shy and uncomfortable. Shino’s transition lenses were as dark as they could go. He also looked slightly uncomfortable. For a guy that usually was covered up as much as possible, he looked very odd in just a tee shirt and a pair of swim shorts. 

Sasuke moved on from the little group and walked out further towards where the pool was, feeling the burning heat on the soles of his feet. He would probably have blisters by the end of the day. He looked around for Kakashi, before realizing that the weirdo would probably be the last one to volunteer to take everyone to the pool. It looked like it was just Iruka and Guy. Though scanning around more closely, he also caught sight of long blonde hair that most definitely belonged to Tsunade. This was confirmed when she turned to Sasuke’s direction. He recognized her face underneath the gigantic sunglasses that she was sporting. Is this what it took to get her out from behind her desk and under all of that paperwork? It felt absolutely surreal seeing her in a bathing suit and a long, drapey shawl. When Sasuke spotted her around the home, she had on slacks with loose-fitting jackets, usually with a tee shirt underneath. Tsunade noticed Sasuke looking at her from across the way. Her eyebrow raised. The kid looked a little lost, out of place. He didn’t know how to have fun.

“Oi, Uchiha,” She shouted, Sasuke looked quizzically at Tsunade, not sure why she was addressing him. “Catch!” she threw a bottle at him. He caught it with ease and looked down to see what exactly she had given him. Sunscreen. Sasuke grimaced and looked back up at Tsunade. She was smirking. “Make sure to apply that thoroughly. You definitely look like the type to burn.” Sasuke frowned and rolled his eyes. He tossed the bottle over to the side where Ino and Sakura were lounging on some pool chairs. The bottle landed on Ino’s stomach, the cap opening, squirting the lotion all on her midriff and up to her neck and chin. Ino screamed and then started complaining that she wouldn’t get an even tan now, reaching for a towel and wiping the lotion off. Sasuke smirked. 

“When I inherited the old man’s property and decided to open this place, I thought I would be looked at with love and adoration,” Tsunade murmured over to Shizune, who was sitting in her own pool chair with an open book. “I should have taken on younger kids, ones that would respect me and look to me like a surrogate mother.”

“Granny!” Naruto exclaimed, pouncing out of the pool, his hair wet, but still defying gravity, practically yellow in the sun.

“Not what I meant,” Tsunade groaned, grabbing a big floppy hat from under her chair and plopping it on her head as if to hide. She slunk down on the chair next to Shizune and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“You never come out for things like this!” Naruto exclaimed, running over to Tsunade.

“You’re not supposed to run at the pool, brat,” Tsunade grumbled, before breaking into a soft smile at the sight of how happy Naruto was.

“Are you gonna get in the water?” Naruto inquired. “Guy brought the water guns!” Naruto seemed very excited about this, but Tsunade raised a hand as if to brush him off.

“You underestimate me, Naruto.” She smiled. “Just because I’m away from my desk, doesn’t mean I didn’t bring work with me.” She reached down into a bag that sat next to her and brought out her laptop. Naruto groaned, but quickly focused his attention on Lee, Kiba, and Tenten.

“We’re all going to go do the diving boards. You in?” Kiba asked, grinning mischievously. Naruto nodded enthusiastically and began following the three to the deep end of the pool where the diving boards were. Naruto turned around briefly, his eyes lighting up as he saw Sasuke still standing awkwardly by the edge of the pool.

“Sasuke!!!” Naruto shouted, waving his arms and running (despite being told not to) over to where he was. “You wanna come dive with us, bastard?” Naruto asked with a small smile, his face shiny from water and tinted red by the heat. Sasuke tried to hide the feeling of relief he had when Naruto came over to him. He felt a bit out of place in this environment and didn’t want to make it seem that way. For some reason, when Naruto approached him, those feelings disappeared. 

“Sure, I’ll come along. If only to make sure you don’t drown.” Sasuke smiled, though he was going for a cool smirk.

“Hey! I can swim real good! No one even had to teach me. I’m a natural. You’ll be in awe at how good I am!” Sasuke stifled a laugh. Naruto looked so determined. To Sasuke, it seemed to be one of his more endearing qualities. Naruto kicked into a sprint again. Sasuke grabbed his forearm. His determination was also annoying. 

“We’re not supposed to run along the edge of the pool, idiot. You could seriously injure yourself of someone else.” Sasuke did not mean to go into lecture mode, but it all came out anyway. Naruto looked sheepishly over at him, his arm going to the back of his head to rub at the hair yet. A gesture Sasuke had begun to associate with when Naruto was in a situation where he felt awkward or embarrassed. They walked the rest of the way to the diving boards, Sasuke trying his best to ignore the pain on the bottoms of his feet from the hot concrete. 

“You know, you’re walking different than usual, like you’re a soldier or something,” Naruto stated, stopped walking forward and proceeded to make a circle around Sasuke, looking up and down, as if trying to find the source for this change. Once he had made a full revolution around Sasuke, Naruto leaned down low and examined Sasuke’s legs down to his feet. He stood straight up again suddenly, still with a quizzical look on his face. After a moment of serious contemplation, Naruto finally found the source of the issues, exclaiming with an enthusiastic look on his face as if he had discovered the scientific breakthrough of the decade. 

“Bastard!” Naruto shouted, “You should have asked around for a spare pair of sandals. Heck! I think I have an old pair of flip flops somewhere.” Naruto leaned down and squinted at Sasuke's feet. “Well, I think your feet are a bit bigger than mine, but wearing small flip flops is still not as bad as blistering your feet. If you would have said something to Kakashi or Granny, they might have just bought you some, y’know? You should really speak up about these kinds of things.” 

Sasuke was going to retort something stupid, like maybe he wanted to get blisters on his feet or something about how he wasn’t a needy, whiny child that needed handouts from people that didn’t know him. Luckily, before he could say any of these stupid things, they had gotten over to where Kiba, Lee and Tenten were standing, waiting for Naruto and Sasuke to catch up. Once they had joined the group, Kiba’s face grew mischievous. 

“Alright well, all of you except new-kid-Sasuke know the drill,” Kiba began, his pointy canines on display as he smiled. He looked directly at Sasuke for this next part, his facial expression as if he was giving Sasuke the precious answer to life itself. “The game is to dive off that board,” He pointed to the highest diving board that sat in between two shorter ones, “In the most badass slash idiotic way possible, without her,” he continued, pointing to a stoic teen with tight braids and aviator sunglasses slouched on the high seat of the lifeguard perch, “noticing it or banning us from the boards. The person to go the longest without being noticed or banned is the winner. If you dive normal, you lose. Everything is fair game. Sabotage and such.” Naruto was bouncing on the toes of his feet, practically buzzing, while Tenten cracked her knuckles and Lee gave a thumbs up sign enthusiastically. Sasuke sighed, but internally he was already coming up with strategies on how to be the last one standing. 

“Let’s do this!” Lee shouted before letting out a woop. Everyone besides Sasuke quickly joined in. Sasuke was too busy, analyzing the lifeguard. He quickly noticed that the girl had brought her phone with her to her perch and was checking it every few minutes, probably responding to someone’s texts. If he could get the timing right on when she got those texts, he would be able to dive no problem every time. 

All five of them got in the line for the tallest board. It was pretty apparent that the two shorter boards were more popular, so the line moved pretty quickly. Soon Lee was up next, a look of determination in his eye that was almost frightening. He climbed up to the top before turning around, facing away from the water. Then, with a completely serious look on his face, he began to moonwalk down the length of the board, before doing a twist and spun in the air before landing in the pool with a big splash. Sasuke found himself holding his breath, almost waiting for the lifeguard's whistle, but nothing sounded. He looked over at the chair, the girl’s head was down, probably looking at a text. Whether he realized it or not, Lee had timed that perfectly. 

Next was Tenten, who did a perfect cartwheel on the board, and then Kiba, who threw a flip flop in the air before diving, then successfully catching it in his mouth before hitting the water. During both of their dives, the whistle didn’t sound. Naruto went next. His theatrics were next level as he mosied up onto the board, before pretending to trip, only to “catch himself” on the ledge. He was hanging from the edge of the board, when Sasuke noticed that the lifeguard was putting her phone away. She would see Naruto hanging any second. Before he had a chance to warn him, he heard the lifeguard’s whistle, causing Naruto to jolt and lose his grip on the edge of the board. He fell, arms waving rapidly into the pool. 

“Yo, Blondie!” The lifeguard shouted, once Naruto resurfaced from the dive. “You’re banned from diving for the rest of the day.” Naruto groaned and continued to swim to the edge, before hoisting himself out of the pool. 

“Wow, getting out in the first round. That’s tough luck, dude,” Kiba said, but he was visibly grinning. “You’re turn, Uchiha. Unless you’ve chickened out.” Kiba’s grin grew somewhat malicious. Sasuke just slightly shook his head and made his way to the diving board. He decided that Naruto getting the lifeguard’s attention was probably a good thing. Since she already thought, she had caught the culprit, she wouldn’t suspect anyone else to violate the diving rules for at least a little while. When Sasuke got to the top of the ladder, he looked over at her. He was right. She was texting. Sasuke sighed and faced away from the pool. He took a deep breath and began walking backwards on the board until he reached the edge. He then pushed off into what he hoped would be a successful backflip. It didn’t have the style of Lee’s moonwalk and twist or the dramatics of Naruto’s antics, but he hoped a backflip would be able to keep him in the game. He launched successfully and felt himself flying backwards. His legs came back around and tucked into himself before rushing into the pool with a big splash.  _ Good enough.  _

The next round knocked Tenten and Lee out of the game, leaving just Kiba and Sasuke going after it for the final round. Kiba did a dumb little pirouette at the end of the board for his dive, before launching gracelessly into the pool. Sasuke stood next to Naruto, psyching himself up for his own dive. They were both positioned close to the lifeguard, her imperious gaze glancing down at Naruto every minute or so. Once Kiba resurfaced, Naruto pointed and laughed at him. 

“That was a dumb move, Kiba, even for you!” He shouted. Naruto then turned to Sasuke and gave him a smile. “Good luck!” He shouted, even though Sasuke was standing right next to him. Sasuke walked over to the board and began climbing the ladder, looking over to see that Kiba had taken his place next to Naruto. Naruto was looking at him, and once they made eye contact, Naruto gave him a thumbs up. 

Sasuke goes to dive, walks out to mid board, before shakily going into a handstand. Immediately at that moment, Kiba got the lifeguard's attention waving his hands and shouting “Miss! Miss! That guy is not following the diving rules!” Sasuke hears this and his stomach sinks, he immediately begins to carefully get up front the handstand. Before he is completely upright, he hears a crash. Once he is standing, he looks over to find the lifeguard's chair tipped towards the water with a red-faced, but smiling Naruto behind it. Kiba stood off to the side, a look of shock on his face. Sasuke looked into the pool to find a very pissed lifeguard poking her head out from under the water. While swimming to the edge, she fumbles for her whistle and blows it violently multiple times. 

“Blondie! You’re out! You’re banned for the season!” She reached the edge of the pool and hoisted herself up before pointing to the entrance/exit. “Get out!” Naruto got even more red. He grimaced and scratched the back of his head. 

“I’m really sorry, lady! You have to believe me when I say it was an accident!” The lifeguard just shook her head.

“Get out!” By that time, Shizune was making her way over after hearing the commotion. The lifeguard got out of the pool and assumed that Shizune was Naruto’s parental figure and began explaining everything in a calm tone, completely different from how she had spoken to Naruto. Sasuke stood awkwardly on the board during this whole exchange, before the people behind him waiting for a turn began complaining. He did a simple dive and quickly swam his way to the edge and got out of the pool. 

“Alright Naruto, pack up anything you brought. You’ll ride back with Tsunade and I. It will give us time to have a long talk while driving back. I hope you know that this behavior is unacceptable.” Shizune said, a stern look on her face. Naruto offered up an uncharacteristically quiet apology. Shizune’s face softened and she ruffled his hair a bit. “I’ll wait for you out front. Don’t be long.” Naruto shoved his feet back into his flip flops and began shuffling after Shizune. Sasuke trailed after him.

“Hey idiot, why did you do that?” Sasuke asked, reaching his hand out to grab Naruto by the shoulder. Naruto spun around to face Sasuke.

“Kiba was ratting you out! And I didn’t think okay! I just didn’t want you to lose to Dog Breath is all.” If Naruto’s face could have gotten any redder, it would have. Sasuke stared at Naruto, trying to hide the humor from his face and voice.

“So you tipped over the lifeguard.”

“Yeah,” Naruto replied, his face splitting into a grin. 

“You are so fucking weird.” Sasuke smiled back. Naruto burst out laughing.

“I’ll see ya later, bastard. That lifeguard is giving me a glare almost as bad as yours.” Sasuke shoved Naruto away, who began walking towards the entrance, where Shizune and a really pissed Tsunade stood waiting for him. 

When it was time for the rest to leave, Sasuke piled into the 15 passenger van, which Shikamaru fondly called the “Cho-Mobile”, with everyone else. He sat next to Sakura, who was quite talkative even after a day at the pool. Sasuke just leaned his head against the window and remembered to mumble affirmatives at the correct time in between Sakura’s one-sided discussions. He must have fallen asleep along the way home, because he woke up to Sakura shaking his shoulder. He stumbled back into the house and headed straight to his room, wanting to continue to sleep. Once he got to his room, he plopped face first into his bed not taking any time to take in his surroundings. He heard a ruffling from across the room. Naruto must have been in there as well. He heard Naruto step closer to him. Sasuke did not bother to move.

“Bastard,” Naruto said, saying the word almost as a fond greeting. Sasuke hummed a response, giving Naruto permission to continue. “You look like a freaking lobster.” Sasuke shot up as Naruto began to giggle maniacally. Sasuke ran over to the mirror and looked at himself. Naruto was right. He was as red as a tomato. Sasuke sighed. Naruto was still giggling. Sasuke walked back over to his bed and flopped back down, burying his hot face into his pillow and groaned. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading. If you would like to leave a comment or kudos, it would be greatly appreciated!


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